Humanity Protection Company

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: posted in discord

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The two men staggered a few steps, then simultaneously broke into a full sprint. They shared the same thought:

'Gotta get out of here faster than him!'

Hell had become a domain without anomalies, belonging to neither the worshipper nor Yeonwoo. The moment they left this domain, their powers would return.

Whoever got out first and regained their power would have the advantage.

The worshipper gritted his teeth as he ran, determined to capture Yeonwoo as a prisoner and use him as a means to create a world without anomalies.

Though his stamina was slightly worse than Yeonwoo's, he knew the way. This was his domain. The hell he had created and designed. He knew not just the roads, but all the shortcuts too.

The worshipper threw himself into the complex alleyways, gasping for breath.

Meanwhile, Yeonwoo wore a desperate expression. He keenly sensed one danger.

"We'll each do our best? We'll both work towards our goals?"

Bullshit. With their ordinary human bodies, fighting would only hurt them both, so he'd just spouted some polite nonsense.

The truth was different.

Would the worshipper, who was willing to throw away his own life, give up on him so easily?

'It's dangerous if the worshipper gets out first!'

In the extreme case, if the worshipper got outside the domain and threatened him with a gun, Yeonwoo would have no choice but to comply. Even if he just threatened to keep Yeonwoo from leaving the domain, Yeonwoo would have to negotiate due to the many possibilities of death.

So the two men ran and walked alternately, acutely feeling the limits of their ordinary bodies.

"Made it!"

Yeonwoo got out a little earlier.

His heart pounded as the rain's vitality surged through him. Fatigue washed away from his entire body. At the same time, his survival instinct switched on, and he felt the dice in his head.

Yeonwoo quickly rolled the dice.

"Dice. The possibility that I'm in a nearby city."

The dice danced as they rolled.

At the same time, a shout came from far away. The worshipper had just gotten out.

"Yeonwoo! You can't leave!"

The sky, swirling with dark clouds, flowed as if enveloping the domain without anomalies. Countless iron chains wove themselves in the air, becoming a steel snake that approached.

Yeonwoo smiled.

"You should exercise more. For a demon boss, you're too weak."

Just as the shadow of the giant steel snake with its gaping maw fell over him, the dice showed a success.

Success!

Yeonwoo's view changed in an instant. He had moved to a nearby city.

Then, Yeonwoo wore a dazed expression.

"What's happened to the world?"

The city was in chaos from the Association President's terror. It was like a war zone, or as if the apocalypse had come.

Yeonwoo finally saw the war.

------

The Association President, dressed like a news anchor in a suit, appeared on every billboard lining the streets. Not just on bus stop displays, but even on screens high up on buildings, the Association President was reading from a script.

"Audience members in this area, please go to the nearest location I mentioned. Go there and attack."

Yeonwoo, who had avoided the Association President's influence, slowly turned around. His gaze swept across the city center.

"Aaaaaaah!"

People were running and screaming. Cars had crashed into roadsides after speeding, and explosions and fires were breaking out everywhere. Occasionally, gunshots rang out.

A person with crushed legs crawled along the asphalt road with their arms, showing a fanatical expression. Their hand brushed against Yeonwoo's leg.

"For the most beautiful one!"

A trail of red bloodstains followed where the person had crawled.

Yeonwoo's lips trembled.

"War? They're going this far? This, this isn't what I expected."

Wasn't mobilizing even civilians a bit much? This wasn't the assassination or all-out war he'd thought of. This was more like...

"Destruction, isn't it?"

At that moment, Mark Jung's urgent voice rang in his head.

"Yeonwoo! Where have you been? Why didn't you answer your phone, and why did you reject the emergency contact through anomalous entities? We're in a state of emergency!"

Yeonwoo unconsciously raised his hand. He was about to use the dice to cut off communication.

But he couldn't quite clench his outstretched palm. The Human Qualification Certificate in his pocket seemed to radiate heat. Warmth spread through his cold, rational mind.

Yeonwoo's lips quivered as he looked at the numerous victims. Even children and the elderly ran through the streets with wildly dilated pupils.

"Mom. Dad."

He saw his family reflected in these people. It was a meaningless and cruel death.

Mark Jung heard that voice.

"We've protected your parents. They're not hostages."

They really weren't hostages. Would hostages work on Yeonwoo? It was simply a service provided to Level 6 agents.

Half-listening, Yeonwoo walked through the city center in a daze. His survival instinct stirred. In this world facing destruction, his survival instinct seemed to be trying to change into something beyond its limits.

His view, which had only focused on himself, expanded to include his family, then society, and finally the entire human species.

A strange thought floated through his hazy mind.

'In a world where all of humanity is extinct, does my survival alone have any meaning? Survival where I can't even have children and live alone. That's the extinction of humanity.'

A value higher than individual survival. The survival of humanity. The spirit of sacrifice to protect humanity even if it meant his own death-

At that moment, Yeonwoo snapped back to his senses.

'Wake up! This isn't my thought!'

It was the contamination of his changing survival instinct. Yeonwoo stopped walking and gritted his teeth. His thought circuits spun at high speed.

'This isn't destruction. It's just a war. The extinction of humanity? That won't happen.'

Even the Club would need to leave a foundation to continue their business, right? At the very least, humans to mine gold from gold mines.

Plus, the demon worshipper would save people.

'It's not something I need to worry about yet.'

If, really, a crisis threatening humanity's extinction came, who knows. He might save people just to be able to buy a hamburger.

But not now. His changing survival instinct returned to its original form. His view narrowed.

'So what should I do now?'

Just then, Mark Jung gulped. His voice came through, full of tension.

"Yeonwoo. I heard you visited other groups and tried to change the world. Please tell me a few things. What's the current situation? And, are you still a company employee?"

"...The situation is simple. The company struck first."

"Us? Why would we, the Anomaly Protection Company-"

In response to this confused reaction, Yeonwoo calmly answered.

"The company altered the world."

The original world and the Humanity Protection Company. The alteration they committed. The war that broke out because of it.

As he explained, he organized his thoughts. He recognized reality again and recalled what he needed to do.

"Wait, let me recall those memories first."

"Yes!"

Mark Jung answered loudly. He had found context in a situation full of false information. He would relay that first, then verify its truth.

Yeonwoo clenched his fist in the middle of the noisy city center, full of shouts and sirens.

"The possibility of recalling my memories from before the alteration."

The dice rolled.

Success!

Memories from before the alteration, a person's worth of data, poured in. Memories that were similar yet different. Yeonwoo calmly digested the memories.

'Double the memories. Double the experience. Double the experience of surviving accidents. Absorb it all.'

Centered on his identity of survival, the memories from two worlds merged into one.

"Ah."

And so Yeonwoo recalled the memories from both before and after the alteration, and dreamed of a new future.

Not the ordinary world that the Humanity Protection Company wanted, nor the world overflowing with anomalous entities without the company that he had dreamed of just moments ago.

Yeonwoo scratched his head.

"The original world was the best after all."

A world that allowed anomalies, where the company managed the risks, where other groups and the company maintained a balance and preserved society, and where he could live moderately.

That world was the most ideal.

After his eyes flashed for a moment as he thought, Yeonwoo said to Mark Jung:

"I'm on the company's side. I've already terrorized the Club's headquarters and attacked the worshipper."

"...Yeonwoo, please wait a moment. The company is in chaos, so it'll take some time to restore your status."

"Is the situation that bad?"

The sound of Mark Jung taking a deep breath could be heard as he was busy talking and typing. His voice came through, tense:

"Reserve personnel have become directors, and an emergency alert has been issued. According to the war scenario, the company plans to counterattack within an hour."

It meant they were extremely busy. He didn't give exact information, but Yeonwoo could guess.

'They'll grow the Green Association's seeds, and elite agents will move. They probably have plans to mass-spray memory erasers, and they might activate the Extinction Defense Device simultaneously.'

But that wasn't important to Yeonwoo right now. He calmly continued speaking.

To achieve his goal.

"Where's the device that altered the world? I'll fix the device and make this war never happen."

"That needs to be requested through the directors, but it doesn't seem like it'll be prioritized right now. Above all, we need to verify if the alteration is true before we can determine the direction of our scenarios and operations..."

As Mark Jung spoke, Yeonwoo quickly glanced around at the disaster surrounding him and forcibly strained his voice.

An exaggerated shout burst out to persuade him.

"People are dying even as we speak! Whether it's the Anomaly Protection Company or the Humanity Protection Company, we should save people, shouldn't we?"

"But if we alter it anyway-"

"How can a person say such a thing! Just because it's altered doesn't mean death isn't death!"

"..."

The sound of Mark Jung grabbing his head in pain came through. Conscience, the company's confusion, war, and alteration. Everything became pain that stabbed at his head.

Finally, Mark Jung spoke with difficulty:

"Alright. I'll have you participate in one project. Follow the instructions of the researchers in that department and fix the alteration device first."

"Understood. I'll do my best."

He received location information. Yeonwoo immediately ended the call and glanced at the sky. Dark clouds were gathering. The worshipper's hell was expanding.

In the distance, at the edge of the city, eerie screams echoed.

In the face of destruction, his survival instinct tried to change again, but Yeonwoo coldly opened his palm.

"This isn't my world."

A world changed by the company's experiment. Even the memories were fabricated. It was a world manipulated by anomalous entities.

Yeonwoo moved to reclaim the original world.

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